Thoughts on Sex Offenders and the Lumpen

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[First World Lumpen] [Gender] [ULK Issue 68]
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Thoughts on Sex Offenders and the Lumpen

Revolutionary Greetings!

Just writing in to say great job to everyone who participated with the latest ULK [ULK 64]. That said, I also want to give my input on various articles that sparked my interest:


RE: “Notes On Advancing The Struggle Inside: Sex Offenders Revisited” by el Independista

  1. In the second paragraph of this article, the author states that Sex Offenders(S.O.s) constitute a more dangerous element than murderers “because S.O.s often have more victims, and many of those victims become sexual predators, creating one long line of victimization.”

As to your first point that S.O.s constitute a more dangerous element in comparison to murderers, I think your reasoning here is purely subjective as well as characteristic of the lumpen mindset both inside and outside of prisons, which the criminal lumpen vies to minimize their own parasitic and anti-people behavior. This way the lumpen can say “I may be a thief, but at least I’m not a pedophile.” “I may be a gang member, but at least I’m not a rapist, etc.” It is a notion that’s caught up in all kinds of hypocritical bourgeois standards of honor, integrity and other nonsense. It’s bourgeois moralization.

  1. In the second paragraph the author states: “Contrarily, sexual predators affect the entire societal composition. They perpetuate crimes against the males and females, provoking deep burrowing psychological problems and turn many victims into victimizers…The difference is not in the severity of the anti-proletariat crime, but in the after effects.”

And murderers and other criminals don’t have the same or worse effects on society? All victims of crime and violence will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to varying degrees. The psychological and emotional trauma that a victim of a robbery and the survivor of a sexual assault suffer can be very similar. The same goes for the friends and family of murder victims. And while it is true that some (I don’t know about many) survivors of sexual abuse do turn into perpetrators of those same crimes, the same can be said of victims and survivors of other crimes, i.e. domestic violence, verbal abuse, and yes, murder! Just look at the factors that go into perpetuating gang violence.

That said, there is one huge difference when it comes to murder, sexual abuse, and their after effects. Whenever there is sexual abuse and violence victims are able to move forward and heal from their physical, emotional and psychological wounds if they receive the proper care and attention. When someone is killed, however, there is no rectifying the act. There is no coming back.

  1. In the fifth paragraph you state: “…murder is more of a one-two punch knock out, where sexual deprivation is twelve rounds of abuse…Most murderers are not serial killers…”

According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, serial is defined as “appearing in a series of continuous parts at regular intervals.” By this definition, then, and in conjunction with your reasoning, many gang members can be defined as serial killers.

  1. In the eighth paragraph, you state that: “…rehabilitating sexual predators can be made on an individual basis by revolutionaries who are able to see past the label prejudice though their efforts, if conducted scientifically, a systematic method can emerge for once the revolutionary is successful…sex crimes will be a problem for capitalism, socialism, or communism. Revolutionaries will have to address the problem sooner or later.”

On this we agree, revolutionaries will have to address this problem sooner or later so why not get past the idealist rhetoric, which you inadvertently espouse, and begin dealing with it now by moving beyond lumpen rationalizations on the matter. Comrades should learn to understand that under the current power structure, all sex is rape and that sex criminals cannot be rehabilitated only revolutionized. This means that you cannot rehabilitate someone into a system that has gender oppression and rape built right into it. Therefore, comrades should learn all about gender oppression and the patriarchy and how the patriarchy not only informs what gender oppression is, but defines it.


RE: “Sakai On Lumpen In Revolution”

I only wanted to comment that the ghettos and barrios are not only being dispensed but shifted. The Antelope Valley, High Dessert and other under-developed regions in Southern California are good examples of this trend. Over the past 10-15 years, there has been a slow but steady trickling out of Chican@s and New Afrikans from the wider Los Angeles area and into places like Lancaster, Palmdale, Mojave, California City due to gentrification.

Also, in relation to your article on Sakai’s book, what’s the status of the MIM(Prisons) Lumpen Handbook?

In Struggle!

MIM(Prisons) responds: We published what was intended to be one chapter of a book on the First World lumpen as Who is the Lumpen in the United $tates. Prior to that we put efforts into the book Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán. Current research efforts are aimed at summing up the final results of our updated survey on prison labor in the United $tates. We will be publishing this final report along with a larger collection of writings on the economics of prisons in the United $tates. So that’s something to look out for in 2019.

The Lumpen Handbook was envisioned to address more topics related to organizing the lumpen class in a revolutionary way in the United $tates today. We have not had the capacity to carry out that project to the scope originally envisioned, but this issue of ULK (68) is an example of our efforts to continue to tackle that topic.

We also have notes to develop into a Selected Works of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (1983-2008) book; another project we would like to see to fruition if we can garner more support for our existing work in the coming years.

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